Mega: New MegaUpload site will use advanced encryption to evade copyright cops

It’s not just the Pirate Bay that’s upping its game to thwart the copyright cops — Kim Dotcom and his Megaupload team are working on a few new tricks as well. Wired recently caught up with both Dotcom and business partner Mathias Ortmann to discuss how they’ll keep the revamped version of Megaupload, which will launch as “Mega” within the next few months, safe from government raids and copyright infringement claims. The key, according to Wired, is that all files uploaded to and shared on Mega “will first be one-click-encrypted right in a client’s browser, using the so-called Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm” after which the user is “provided with a second unique key for that file’s decryption.”

The most important aspect of these new security features is that it puts responsibility for obeying copyright laws squarely on individual users because “the decryption key is not stored with Mega” and thus it will “be impossible for Mega to know, or be responsible for, its users’ uploaded content.” This technique should also give users stronger protections over their own data because it will be impossible for thieves to properly access it without the decryption key.

“If servers are lost, if the government comes into a data center and rapes it, if someone hacks the server or steals it, it would give him nothing,” Dotcom told Wired. “Whatever is uploaded to the site, it is going to be remain closed and private without the key.”

Kim Dotcom has continued to supply more details on his new Megaupload project which is set launch early next year. Today he reveals that the new service will operate on the Gabon-based domain name ME.GA. In addition, Dotcom warns other cloud storage sites that it’s not safe to host their services in the United States, or use .com and .net domains.

Despite ongoing criminal proceedings Kim Dotcom and his team are gearing up to launch a new Megaupload, which will simply be called “Mega”.

The spin-off is set to launch on January 20, exactly one year after Megaupload was shut down. According to Dotcom the new Mega will be bigger, better, and protected against the wrath of the U.S. Department of Justice.

In previous weeks the eccentric file-sharing entrepreneur has revealed many details on how the new Megaupload will operate, but until now the site’s new domain has remained a secret. Megaupload.com is definitely unavailable as it remains seized by the U.S. Government.

Today Dotcom ends the speculation.

The new Mega will operate from the Gabonese domain Me.Ga. With just 98,800 Internet users in a population of 1.6 million, the African country is a small player on the Internet, but this is about to change.

In addition to avoiding domain names that are under control of the U.S., Dotcom also notes that the new Mega won’t partner with American hosting providers.

“Unfortunately we can’t work with hosting companies based in the United States. Safe harbour for service providers via the Digital Millennium Copyright Act has been undermined by the Department of Justice with its novel criminal prosecution of Megaupload.”

In a notice, ironically hosted on Kim.com, Dotcom also advises other cloud hosting providers to stay away from the U.S. and refrain from operating domains that are controlled by American companies.

“It is not safe for cloud storage sites or any business allowing user generated content to be hosted on servers in the United States or on domains like .com / .net. The US government is frequently seizing domains without offering service providers a hearing or due process.”

Megaupload’s founder is referring to the many domain name seizures carried out since 2010 by the Department of Justice and Homeland Security’s ICE unit. Some of these domains were seized by “mistake” and were later returned.

By avoiding .com Dotcom hopes that the new Mega will be able to operate undeterred. Whether the new service can live up to the high expectations remains to be seen, but Mega’s founder is Me..Ga.. excited.

Domain for Kim Dotcom’s new MeGa site suspended over piracy allegations

wow that was quick....they didnt even wait til it launched

Kim Dotcom’s Megaupload sequel has hit another roadblock. The larger than life figure and alleged piracy kingpin previously announced that he was launching a new cloud-based file sharing service known as Mega in January.

The website was expected to be hosted on the Gabon-based me.ga domain rather than a traditional .com, however the small West African nation has said it has suspended the domain, PHYS.org reported on Tuesday.

“I have instructed my departments to immediately suspend the site www.me.ga,” Gabon’s Communication Minister Blaise Louembe said, adding that the country will “protect intellectual property rights” and “fight cyber crime effectively”. The minister continued, “Gabon cannot serve as a platform or screen for committing acts aimed at violating copyrights, nor be used by unscrupulous people.”

The paranoid founder chalked the ban up to “the bad faith witch hunt” conducted by the United States government and said the site already has “an alternative domain” lined up. Dotcom’s Silicon Valley lawyer, Ira Rothken, confirmed the story in an interview with CNET and once again proclaimed his client’s innocence.
“The [new] site is not even functional yet,” Rothken said. “MegaUpload and Kim are innocent and presumed innocent. It sounds like a lack of net neutrality in Gabon…We’re just going to use a different domain.”

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has confirmed that the new domain for his fresh Mega project will be New Zealand-based. Next January it will launch on Mega.co.nz, a domain that Dotcom believes will enjoy great protection. “Prime Minister John Key can have as many dinners with Hollywood executives and copyright lobbyists as he likes. The simple fact is that the NZ government, which has been acting like a subsidiary of the US government, is not above the law.”

On November 1st, Kim Dotcom revealed the URL for his new venture. The new Mega file-hosting service would use Me.ga, a domain operated out of the African country, Gabon.

Obviously the domain itself, Me.ga, is extremely memorable and the fact that it would operate outside the United States was also a bonus. But quickly things started to go wrong. The Gabon government said they would seize the domain but not before a shadowy group called Ome.ga appeared to take control.

But moving forward with characteristic determination, today Dotcom announced that Mega will now rely on a domain controlled by a country he not only loves, but now calls home. On January 20, 2013, Mega will launch on Mega.co.nz.

Picking a Kiwi domain makes perfect sense and is something we discussed here internally last week. Dotcom’s popularity is riding high in New Zealand and as the entrepreneur informed us this morning, he has complete confidence in the legal system there.

“The judiciary in New Zealand works. Judges are independent and not influenced by politics. That has been our experience so far.”

The Megaupload founder believes the issues are simple to understand. The new Mega will operate completely legally and therefore the service will be protected under New Zealand law. Lobbyists, he says, can’t do anything about that.

However, while Dotcom predicts reasonable behavior in New Zealand, the same cannot be said about the authorities in the former home of many of Megaupload’s servers.

“The US DOJ has shown total disregard for the laws that were created to protect Megaupload and its users. Our case demonstrates how little respect the US government has for its own laws and due process,” he notes.
Dotcom admits that things can be done, legislatively, to make life difficult for file-hosting services in New Zealand, but that would not only have a chilling effect on innovation, but could also spell good news for the opposition.

“The New Zealand government can try to draft new legislation to ban services like Mega but that would be the end of cloud storage and online service providers in New Zealand and probably also the end of the current government,” Dotcom explains.

“One thing is certain, the new Mega will become a commercial success. It will allow us to fund the best legal defense team money can buy and launch our offensive in all those countries that the US dragged into this nonsense. We will make the DOJ attorneys work day and night while our users can enjoy a truly innovative and ground breaking new Mega.”

been really slow thus far unless u use it at odd ball hours....apparently cuz of the 1 mil users that Kim claims has signed up since launch....50 gigs free is nice though so i assume everyone is uploading a bunch of ish to their accounts & causing it to lag

initially it was horrible trying to get in...it crashed like his fat ass & i actually couldnt log-in after registering...it still says "MEGA Beta" so will mess around with it more but i already got 60 free gigs on Dropbox & another 30 on Box.com but i need lots of space for all my FLAC rips so will eventually increase my activity on it once it goes out of beta